July 2021

Strategic co-ordination for health of the public research – OSCHR sub board

Thirteenth meeting: Wednesday 14th July 2021

Attendees

  • Anne Johnson (chair)

  • Chris Whitty NIHR/DHSC

  • Joy Todd ESRC

  • Philipa Hemmings EPSRC

  • Fiona Watt MRC

  • Joe McNamara MRC (for Fiona Watt)

  • Michael Bowdery Welsh Government

  • Andrew Fraser Scottish Government

  • Brian Ferguson, Director, Public Health Research Programme, NIHR (for item 4)

  • Rachel Conner DHSC (secretariat)

  • Charlotte Miller DHSC (secretariat)

  • Katie O’Sullivan DHSC (observer)

Apologies

  • Mary de Silva Wellcome Trust

  • Lucy Chappell NIHR/DHSC

Decisions and actions


Minutes of last meeting and updates on actions

  1. The note of the meeting held in July 2021 was agreed to be an accurate report of the meeting.


Update on OSCHR meeting

  1. The chair went to OSCHR in June and gave an update on SCHOPR’s current and completed activities. OSCHR were content with SCHOPR’s progress.


NIHR Health Determinants Research Collaborations and Public Health Career Scientist Award Scheme (Brian Ferguson)

  1. Brian Ferguson, director of the NIHR Public Health Research (PHR) programme was invited to discuss two new initiatives within the PHR programme.

  1. Health Determinants Research Collaborations (HDRCs)

  • HDRCs are research and development infrastructure funding for local authorities working closely with academia to support LAs to become more research active.

  • HDRCs will focus on addressing wider determinants of population health and health inequalities in local areas

  1. Population Health Career Scientist Award Scheme

  • This is targeted at senior leaders in HEI sector who work with LAs. The intention is that the research programmes developed through the scheme will be supported by and be relevant to LAs.

  1. PHR are hoping that both schemes attract applications from non-traditional disciplines, such as social policy, history, sociology, engineering etc

Update on Public Health Reforms

  1. It was noted that the UK research offer for health protection is internationally strong.

  1. The Office for Health Promotion (OHP) should have all staff in place on 1st October.

  1. It was noted that the Welsh government and Scottish government have been involved in conversations about public health reforms and research structures.


SCHOPR future priorities and activities

  1. Following previous discussions about SCHOPR activities and comments from OSCHR, the group discussed future SCHOPR priorities.

  1. Potential SCHOPR priorities that were discussed:

  • Systems thinking; coastal towns; how the four nations work together as health funders; health inequalities; developing new methods for public health; intersections between health improvement and health protection; early life and educational settings; wider determinants; digital technology; built environment and urban living; how to define infrastructure for population health; net zero, air pollution and climate change.